Sacred Heresy
by ThePaganKnight
Summary: A story of a sister of battle, a sorcerer of Tzeentch, a rogue Eldar banshee and a fallen pirate. Mostly a combat based story(obviously) there may be some smut but if so than very little. Feedback welcome. Will try to post chapters weekly.
1. An image of faith

Chapter 1: An image of faith

For a moment, silence. Just the glow from the warning light. Complete focus, burdened by fear, countered by courage, and then...The drop! Shear terror grips, the her mind shakes, praying to the emperor that the pod holds strong. Impact, a jarring shudder as the steel trap makes contact. A moment of muffled gunfire and battle cries and the pod doors open, and three sisters poor out into the mayhem of battle...one remains. She stands in the pod, uncertain of what fate has in store for her, knowing only that her sisters cannot fight alone. She gathers her courage and with a mighty cry "In the emperor's name!" charges out to meet her sisters, slashing and burning all enemies who dare raise arm against the imperium.

Strewn across the field; corpses of guardsmen, chaos cultists and the occasional ork. A fierce skirmish wages between the imperium of man, the newly formed chaos cultists of Slaanesh and a few rogue ork war parties. Steel pods continued to rain across the battlefield as sisters wielding flamers turned the enemy battle lines into an inferno. A guardsmen called into his Vox "Artillery, focus all guns towards the center front, punch a hole right through the bastards!" Shells from the guards artillery division rain with divine wrath upon cultist and ork alike as a tide of fire swept through their lines. The sight of the raging fire and their comrades set ablaze set the enemies of the emperor in full retreat. "We have them on the ropes now men, run them down!" the commissar ordered "HUAAAAA!" a roar rose from the guardsmen as they charged the retreating enemy. "Sister's, the day is ours!" Cried out the canoness. "Emperor be praised," The sisters boomed in unison. Respice removed her helmet, allowing her scarlet hair to flow to her shoulders. "M'lady" a voice from behind her posed. Respice turned around to find four guardsmen kneeling before her. "Thank you my lady, thank the emperor that you came when you did," Respice was taken aback by this, she had not yet had dealings with guardsmen, or any other branch of the imperial military for that matter. "Rise guardsmen," a voice beside Respice responded, "This victory belongs to all the emperors children upon this field today," Respice turned to see the cannoness standing next to her. The guardsmen rose. "Return to your commissar" "Yes m'lady," they all responded in unison before jogging off. "Your first deployment," the cannoness stated. She turned to Respice "How do you feel?" "I feel well canoness to be fighting in the emperor's name," the canoness showed a faint smile "You may still call me Maria, Respice," "Yes canoness Maria," The canoness chuckled. "It seems like only yesterday that I first brought you into the ecclesiarchy, you were so small then. But look at you now," Respice smiled, glad that she had made Sister Maria proud. "Come sister, we must make our way to base camp, we have been blessed with victory this day but many more battles, far fiercer than this one, lay ahead of us," "Yes can….sister Maria".

The sisters of battle returned to their recently established base of operations, a few leagues from the guardsman's headquarters. Respice removed her starch white power armor, stained with blood and filth from the prior engagement of arms. She cleaned the heretic and ork blood from her armor, taking special care to clean the symbol of the argent shroud of all blemishes. "Sister Respice," Respice's battle sister approached her. "Sister," Respice addressed "You fought well today sister," "As did you sister Inutila," "We were beginning to fear that you would not be able to make your way out of our drop pod at the beginning of our battle," "I was merely saying a brief prayer" Respice lied "There was plenty of time to do such before hand" Inutila laughed "Excess in piety, sister, is not a sin," Respice mused. Inutila rolled her eyes and walked off. Respice continued to clean her armor with gusto until it shined brightly. "Sister Respice," Respice whipped around. "Yes sister superior!" Respice addressed standing at attention. "Why do you cleanse your armor? We have servitors for such purposes," "I merely enjoy showing my appreciation for all that the emperor has blessed me with sister superior," Respice answered, "You are quite odd you know that Sister Respice," "I have been told so, sister superior," The sister superior chuckled "But oddity in the name of the emperor I suppose is to be admired more than condemned, carry on," "Thank you sister superior," Respice saluted as the sister superior strolled on.

After she had cleaned her armor, Respice joined her sisters in their debriefing/sermon. After the sermon, she said her prayers before laying down for sleep in the barracks. "Respice, Sister of battle, Daughter of the emperor, child of the corpse emperor, spawn of the dead" Respice heard a whispering voice or rather,many voices whispering to her in tandem. "Over here, come forward, this is your path, the path you should travel, the path to be traveled" She wandered in darkness searching for the source of the voices yet regardless of the direction she tread, the voices drew no nearer. Suddenly the voices stopped. A light began to shine behind her, first just a dim glow, yet brighter it grew. She turned to see the emperor, just as depicted in the old texts, in all his glory and majesty, standing before an alter. "Father emperor," Respice knelt and averted her eyes in humility. "Come, step forth my child," The emperors warm voice invited her. Respice felt a sweeping sensation of joy and safety wash over her. She began to step forward but another moved first. A woman, a bride, dressed in the old traditional marital garb, a white shroud over her eyes. The bride glew in a similar yet somewhat more feint manner than the emperor. Her groom stood before the emperor too, tall and strong...yet his face was obscured by the emperors radiance. The bride turned to her groom, and the groom to his bride...but when the groom turned his face, it revealed a hideous birdlike creature.

Respice jolted upwards, her chest heaved with heavy breaths, her forehead began to perspire; what was that hideous creature? she wondered frantically. She had seen it before. How could it have stood in the presence of the emperor without his protest? Why was she presented with such a dream...or perhaps...vision? Respice was frightened. She felt cold...as if the shadows themselves were attempting to grip her. "Perhaps this is simply the chill of the night?" she thought, trying to distract herself from her nightmare. "The nights on this moon were said to be terribly cold during this time of rotation," Too frightened to fall asleep, Respice spent the last 2 hours of the night laying in bed praying fervorously. When day broke she breathed a sigh of relief. A new mission was set before her and her battle sisters during their morning briefing/sermon; the guard had come across an entrenched chaos position in a cliffside fortress, heavily fortified and heavily armed, there was even a report of a sonic cannon wielding squad of chaos space marines, reeking havoc upon the imperial guard. They were to deploy immediately to the battle zone.

Respice dawned her power armor along with her other sisters. She attempted to keep her mind off of the previous night and focus it on the day set before her. She, her battle sisters and other platoons of adeptas sororitas loaded up into their sacred rhino transports and were carried off to battle. There was little conversation inside the transport, the sisters sat in silence, each left to her own thoughts. Respice couldn't help but ponder about her dream, she wasn't sure if she should distract herself from the dream with thoughts of the oncoming battle or visa versa. before she could sort through the mess in her head, the rhino stopped and a voice rang over the vehicles vox "Destination reached, deploy into battle, emperor protect," Respice could her the muffled sounds of battle from inside. She readied her bolter and when the door of the rhino opened, jogged out alongside her sisters, no hesitation this time. When she emerged from the mechanical shell, she saw the cliffside fortress, heavily armed with artillery. The fortress was so thick that even the guards basilisks were having a difficult time penetrating it. Between her and the fortress was about 2 miles of wartorn trenches; shelled, burnt, littered with corpses and the occasional shattered building structure. There were other rhinos deploying battle sisters across the combat zone, "Guardsman!" Inutila boomed. The guardsmen she addressed stood at attention "Yes m'lady!" "Where is your commanding officer," "Over there m'lady" the guardsman gestured towards a camouflaged field command. "As you were," Inutila ordered. "To the command sisters," Respice and her three sisters jogged over to the field command where they were directed to the tactical commissar of the regiment. "Adeptas Sororitas reporting," "Excellent, not a moment too soon, we are preparing to charge, we need every soldier available," Inutila nodded and the sisters jogged towards the front.

As they marched double time through the trenches, the guardsmen cheered for their ecclesiarchal reinforcements. "Sister, the heretics position is still heavily armed and fortified, would a charge not be a foolish?" Respice asked "Silence sister," Inutila hissed "The emperor calls and we answer, his orders we obey without question," "Yes, sister" Respice still felt very unsure about this strategy. A tactical genius or a veteran she was not, but it did not take the brightest mind nor the most seasoned soldier to see the unnecessary risk in this plan. Respice shut out all further questions in her head, all other doubts. "Doubt not the emperor Respice," She muttered to herself "To question to sin, to be doubtful is to be weak, the emperor's love will protect," They reached the front where all along the trench, rows of guardsmen were prepared to mount the fortification and charge the entrenched enemies 200 yards from their position. Respice could spy the peuce power armor of the heretical sound marines one of which lay straight in front of her securing the cliffside flank. They were to be most feared as they could shatter the will of the guardsmen in an instant. Respice noticed a guardsman knelt down next to her. He was very young, he couldn't have been more than 18 standard years old. He was trembling profusely, clearly terrified at the thought of charging such a well fortified position. Respice sympathised with him "Guardsman," she asked. The boy looked up at her shaking from head to toe. "Stay close buy me" she suggested "I'll keep you safe," The guardsman nodded, feeling slightly better about the situation. "Why did I tell him that?" Respice thought to herself, how could she guarantee his survival. Shells continued to rain upon their and their enemies positions. Suddenly the shelling from the guard stopped. The commissars voice rang out of the vox, "This is it men, fix bayonets!" The sound of over a hundred guardsmen unsheathing their blades and attaching them to the end of their lasguns filled the air.

"CHAAAARGE!" he commissar roared over vox. "In the emperor's name!" Inutila roared. The forces of the emperor charged towards the enemy's position. The enemies fired volly after volly upon the guard and sororitas. Many guardsmen were cut down, few sisters fell however as their armor withstood the chaotic lasgun barrage. Respice took cover in a trench 10 yards from the noise marine. She took aim with her bolter and let fly half a dozen rounds. Four of the rounds penetrated the marines armor but not critically. The marine turned his noise cannon on Respice. The cannon emitted a horrible shrieking cacophony. Had Respice not been kneeling, she would have fell down. Her balance was gone, she could barely focus, she tried to aim her bolter but to no avail. Just when her vision started going dark she say a krak grenade fly through the air towards the noise marine. The grenade landed only a few feet in front of the marine and detonated with impressive force. The marines front armor was peppered with shrapnel and he was stunned. Respsice, still dazed by the noise canon recovered her footing and charged him. With bolter in one hand and power sword in the other she stumbled towards her target, the marine went to re arm his cannon but his power armors arm was jammed with shrapnel. Respice's stumbled turned into a bound as she regained her footing. She fired off another half dozen rounds at the marine, forcing him to shield himself with his cannon. When he lowered his gun again Respice was already within 6 yards. He went to draw his blade. She lunged through the air and, with all her might, plunged the power blade into the chaos marines chest. The armor resisted the blade so it only sunk in a couple inches. She stepped in, moving her foot behind the marines and drove him back, forcing him onto the ground and her blade in deeper. The marine let out an inhuman roar as the blade penetrated his flesh. He unsheathed his blade and attempted to stab Respice. The blade glanced off her power armor.

Respice let her bolter drop by her side, looped her arm around his and pulled, bending the mechanisms beneath the power armor enough to weaken his grasp on the knife. She disarmed him with her sword arm and stabbed the blade into his neck just beneath his helmet. A lasgun fire pierced the left of Respices armor, she spun around on top of the marine, pinning his left arm beneath her leg and ignited the lasgun wielding chaos troops with her flamer. Two were set ablaze instantly while the others fell to cover or pulled back. She spun around again and, with both hands, drove her power blade deep into the marines torso, moving it up and down to maximize damage. Only then did the marine cease his struggle.

As Respice with drew her sword from the corpse of the noise marine a crazed chaos cultist lept onto her back. Respice could hear the loud beeping of a bomb on her back, she flailed about attempting to remove the cultist from her back but the kamikaze would not budge. Then she heard a roar from her right side and a guardsman tackled the cultist off of her back. Respice tripped and fell to the ground. The guardsman grabbed the bomb and hurled it as hard as he could towards the enemy ranks where it detonated. The cultist rose, blade in hand, intending to stab his assailant. But Respice jumped to her feet and grabbed the cultist in a headlock. Two more who had taken cover from her flamer earlier rose from the trenches and fired upon her. Their lasguns damaged but did not penetrate her armor. The Guardsmen charged them with his lasgun, shooting one of them three times in the chest and running the other through with his bayonet over and over. The knife wielding cultist stabbed wildly at Respice but she grabbed his wrist and snapped it like a twig. The cultist shrieked in pain with slight enjoyment. Respice then easily broke his neck. Respice recovered her sword and turned towards her guardsman comrade who was none other than the guardsman she had assured before the charge. She nodded to him, he returned the gesture. Suddenly, a cultist manning grenade launcher turret aimed at the guardsmen. Acting quickly, Respice lunged forward shoving the guardsman out of the way. A grenade struck Respice center mass propelling her back and over the edge of the cliff with great force.

She fell, hitting jutting rocks as she fell. once, twice she crashed into the rocks, her right arm piece fell as it had been weakened by lasgun fire. three times four, her arm crunched against the rocky outcrop. With the fifth and final crash bringing her to the bottom of a vast valley. Respice cried out in pain at her broken arm. She was dazed in pain and breathless from that fall, but still alive. She crawled over to a rock to try and regain her composer. Respice' arm was clearly broken in multiple places, she knew better than to try and use it. She stumbled around locating and gathering her scattered memorabilia. When she finally found her power gauntlet she was ambushed by chaos cultists. They set upon her before she could draw a weapon. They knocked her to the ground. Once again she landed on her right arm causing her to shriek in pain. "Oh my, what blessing has been granted us by the prince of pleasure today?" One of the cultists, clearly the leader by his superior armor, jeered. "A fine creature to submit to our violations," he salivated as he looked her over. "Remove her armor!" He ordered his men. They all attempted to on clasp Respice's armor. She kicked the shin of one of them, shattering it. The cultist let out a wail. The leader laughed "Yet more gifts from slaanesh, truly we are blessed," the leader knelt down and licked her cheek. Respice wrenched her good arm free, seized the leader by the throat and began to crush his windpipe. One of his subordinates struck Respice repeatedly in the head with the butt of his lasgun. "Don't kill her you fool! To do so would be to squander this wondrous gift," the leader choked. The cultist unclasped and wrenched off Respice's leg armor, she began to black out. The leader stood above her grinning. The last thing Respice saw before she passed out was a red flash and a blue and gold blur appeared behind the cultists, and then darkness.


	2. A devil in knight

**Chapter 2: A devil in knight's Garb**

The air was clear, the suns shone, and the sounds of vicious battle could be heard miles off in the distance. It was a wonderful day in the eyes of Dubhshláine. He removed his helmet and basked in the sun's warm glow. "Doolah?" one of his comrades asked. "Is everything alright?" "Indeed Andreas, I am merely taking a moment to enjoy this day the changer of ways has blessed us with," Doolah opened his eyes and peered across the valley towards the battle at hand. An average man would not be able to make out any details over such a great distance but Doolah's eyes, like the rest of his body, was enhanced like the astartes of the imperium. Doolah could see the imperium attempting a daring charge against the forces of slaanesh.

Though many casualties were sustained, the maneuver did gain them vital ground. Doolah chuckled at the maneuvers simplicity. Just then he spied a small group of cultists fleeing their fortress through a secret exit. "A wise decision my friends," Doolah muttered to himself "It does not take a psycher to see this battle is lost," Suddenly a white figure fell from the cliff's edge. Doolah peered closely and saw that it was a woman in power armor. As she struck the ground Doolah winced in empathy. "Well well well, A sister of battle?" Doolah murmured. "What is it sir?" Andreas asked. "Have a gander down there...and enough with this sir business," he ordered. "Yes sir," Andreas said peering into his binoculars. Doolah rolled his eyes. "Is that a...space marine?" "No no, see the hair and the figure..." "A female?" "Indeed, and far smaller than a space marine, that is an adeptas sororitas or sister of battle. I had heard of them in my travels, apparently they form some sort of, exclusively female imperial cult," Doolah informed. What a stroke of luck, power armor wielding humans are rare enough on this planet, and when they are made available; they are astartes, far larger than the average person needing arming but a sororitas, her power armor would be sized perfectly. And she was alone and wounded, no chance of the armor being recovered by her comrades. Then she sat up and began to move. Doolah squatted down using his power glaive to balance as his interest was now piqued. "My my, aren't we the resilient one," he noted. He was beginning to find this sororitas quite amusing indeed.

Then the cultists spotted her and Doolah was snapped back into reality. "Right, I'm going down there to retrieve that armor. Can't have that pleasure worshipping scum taking our spoilers no can we?" He stated "Right sir, will you be needing assistance?" Andreas asked "No no dont trouble yourself, you go on ahead and i'll meet you at the rendezvous," Doolah placed his helmet back on his head, knelt on the ground and prepared to teleport. "And enough of this sir nonsense," he said before blinking to the cultists. He flashed back into existence not ten paces from the worshippers of slaanesh and walked over towards the cultist. He saw two of them carrying the sisters leg armor in their hands. It appeared that they had killed her. Their leader was preparing to do quite a nasty violation of the sister. Doolah rolled his eyes yet again "Slaanesh cultists have a one track mind," he sighed. He walked over to them. "Pardon me," he announced. The cultists all turned their weapons towards Doolah. "I believe you have something of mine there," he gestured toward the sororitas. "I don't think we possess anything fitting such a description" the leader spat gripping his las pistol tightly "This is a gift from the dark prince...sorcerer," he hissed. "Yes i see you have begun unwrapping it," Doolah chuckled. The cultists oddly were not in a good humor. "See hear my good man I spied that creature from afar," he condescendingly informed, gesturing back to his previous position. "I have only an interest in the casing of your prize, what say you finish removing that lovely armor, hand it over to me and ill leave you go about your business?" Doolah offered. The cultist leader sneered "We will not be victims of your verbal manipulation worshipper of the deceiver," "Am I to assume then that you won't allow me the armor?" The leader spat on Doolah's armor "Very well then," Doolah turned around as if to leave.

He summoned the power of the warp in his hand, spun around and blasted the three nearest cultists with a doom blast from his doombolts burned cavernous holes in their chests, killing them almost instantly. He lunged forward as the other three realized what was happening. He swung his mighty glaive and cleaved one of them nearly in two. The last two opened fire. Doolah swung about and cleaved another. The last one turned tail and fled but Doolah gunned him down with his wrist bolter. "You try to be reasonable and look what happens," he sighed. He stared down at his spoils of war; a full suit of ecclesiarchal power armor. Granted it had been banged up a bit but it was nothing that Aquilius couldn't fix. He examined the armor; it had been bent in such a way that he would need to cut her out to remove it, lest he be here for an hour. "Well this is going to be a chore...aha," he came across the sororitas sword. "The changer of ways provides," he stated with satisfaction. He lined up the blade with the sororitas arms, as he did he saw her wince and budge. "Still alive?" he thought. He knelt down, removed his helmet and but an ear to her mouth….breath. There was no doubt about it, she had survived. Doolah was surprised. How could a woman with no enhancements survive such a vicious battle only to fall over 100 ft and survive only to be set upon by crazed slaanesh cultists and still draw breath? Doolah considered the odds, they were slim. Could this be a sign from the master of fortune? Could this girl's survival be part of his great plan? He looked over the woman, she was closer to a girl, quite young. The odds of her surviving the trip back to their encampment with her injuries weren't very good.

However Doolah was not one to spit in the face of the architect of fate. It was decided, if Tzeentch had allowed her to survive this long then Doolah would have to at least attempt to keep her that way. "Well my red haired friend, it seems the master of fortune has plans for you yet," He gathered up the armor, scooped up the girl and cradled her in his lap along with the rest of her gear. He focused the energy of the warp and in a flash was gone.


	3. A mother, superior

Chapter 3: A mother, Superior

Junera waited with baited breath for the return of her sororitas, though they were soldiers trained for battle she worried terribly about each of them, especially Respice. Ever since the day she brought her into the ecclesiarchy she always kept an eye on her. Back then she was just a battle sister, 4 years into the sisterhood. She had been tasked to guard a field hospital on cadia. The orders hospitaller were commanded to aid with the high number of casualties during an ork invasion. She was standing guard outside the medical facility, the sound of artillery thundering off in the distance. Suddenly she heard one of the sororitas yell "Stop, thief!" Junera whipped her head around and saw a street urchin dash off with bags of protein paste from the hospital. She chased the girl through winding alleyways, even in her power armor she was hard pressed to keep up with the girl. Eventually she lost track of her. Junera searched around for the girl. Just when she was about to head back, she heard whispering from a side alleyway. She approached as stealthily as a 6 ft tall woman in stark white power armor can be. She peered around the corner and saw the girl surrounded by several other younger children. She handed out the protein packs amongst them.

Junera stepped into the alleyway, there was only one way into the alley and she was blocking it. "Gun lady!" one of the children exclaimed. The children all turned towards Junera. The thief girl held her arms out to shield the other children. "Don't kill them, they didn't do anything," The girl pleaded. Junera looked the girl up and down, she couldn't have been more than 8 standard years. "You stole from my sisters," Junera stated "That is most unwise," "I had to miss, we don't have any food," The girl responded "Don't your parents provide for you?" Junera asked "Their parents are all away fighting," the girl informed "And what about your parents, your mother wouldn't be pleased to know you are stealing from the ecclesiarchy. She could get in quite a bit of trouble," "I don't have a mother," Respice answered, "You don't have one?" Junera repeated. The girl nodded. Junera was touched. Not just by the emptiness of this girl's life, but her determination to help others so selflessly. Such a trait was quite rare, especially on a world such as cadia. Junera approached the girl, who shrank back in fear. She knelt before the girl and smiled "You are truly blessed by saint silvana," she said placing her hand upon the child's cheek. "Come with me child and bring your friends, we will see if we can help them more than just a few protein packs," The child was hesitant. "Come now, You aren't in trouble, I promise" Junera reached out her hand. The girl took it in her own.

Junera lead the children back to the hospital. Respice and Junera watched as a nurse from the adeptas sororitas tended to the children's infections. "What is your name child?" Junera asked the girl "Respice," she responded "Well Respice it is nice to meet you, I am Junera, and I am a sister of battle," "A sister of battle? What does that mean?" "It means my sisters and I fight to protect our father the emperor and his people, just like you," she put her hand on Respice's head and stroked her crimson hair. "You're lucky to have a father and sisters," Respice told her. Junera looked at Respice, then at the children being cared after. Then she decided, "Respice?" Junera said kneeling down. Respice looked at her with her big green eyes. "How would you like the emperor to be your father," Respice's face lit up "He will always love you and protect you, and you'll have hundreds of sisters and you'll protect thousands of people in need just like your friends," Respice grinned and hugged Junera "Yes yes I want to, I want to be a sister," Junera laughed at Respice's youthful enthusiasm. "Does that mean that if the emperor is my father that you'll be my mommy?" Junera paused, her heart sank a little. She stood up and looked down at Respice "Um... no child. But you can think of me as your big sister, and ill watch over you too, just like the emperor," "Oh, ok" Respice said, somewhat disheartened. Junera tried not to make eye contact with her as she could not allow any sort of attachment to anyone other than the emperor, certainly not to a child she just met. Respice reached up and held onto Junera's hand. Junera took it in her own and, for a brief moment, she forgot about the horrors of the galaxy and felt genuinely at peace.

Now she paced back and forth waiting for a vox relay reporting on the outcome of the battle. Suddenly a voice rang over the vox. "Sororitas command do you read?" Junera leapt at the receiver before the vox operator could even answer. "Yes this is canoness Junera. Report what is the situation of gundar fortress?" "We have taken the fortress in the emperor's name canoness," "Casualties?" "A few serious injuries canoness, but I doubt any sisters shall join the emperor today," Junera breathed a sigh of relief "Thank the emperor" she exhaled. The voice rang out again "There was a report by a guardsmen of one of our sisters going M.I.A," "How?" Junera asked urgently "According to the guardsman a red haired sister of battle was flung over the edge of the cliff from enemy explosive fire," Junera's heart sank into her stomach "Have they Identified who?" she asked the vox operator "We still aren't sure if the report is even accurate canoness," "You aren't sure? Well figure it out and report when you've done your job, and keep track of that guardsman, I want to question him myself," Junera shouted. "Yes canoness," the voice complied. "Damn that incompetent comisar, to charge before the major fortifications are disabled..." "Pardon me canoness," the vox operator interjected "But there aren't many sisters with red head in our mission, let alone on that particular deployment..." "Nothing is confirmed yet, we must pray to the emperor that the report is false. I am going to find and question this guardsman personally. Activate her tracking beacon and try to locate her position. If she is in danger, hopefully we will be able to find her before it is too late" Junera began to exit the room. "Canoness," The Vox operator called out. Junera stopped. "For what it's worth, I hope she is ok too," she offered. Junera sighed "I know sister, may the emperor keep her," She stalked off down the hall toward the vehicle administrator, "Ready my rhino," She ordered "Yes Canoness" Junera was fueled with fear and rage. She was terrified that Respice may have fallen in battle, or worse been taken captive by the heretics. Who knows what kind of torture and violations she might be subjected to at their hands. "If those blasphemous bastards have her, emperor as my witness there will not be a place among the stars for them to hide from my wrath,"

After a few moments, she was shuttled to Gundar where the guardsman was waiting along with his superior officer. "Greetings canoness," The officer saluted, the guardsman followed suit. "At ease," Junera snapped impatiently. "You saw my sororitas fall?" She pointed at the guardsman "Y-yes ma'am," "Show me," she ordered. The guardsman looked uncertainly at his commanding officer who simply shrugged. "Well..." the guardsman walked over. "she was standing here when the grenade hit, and she fell through the air over to this point. This is where I lost sight of her," The guardsman stated, walking over to the cliff's edge. Junera walked over to his position. The fall was quite perilous. "I want a squad to scour the area," the canoness ordered. "We did miss," Said the guardsman. The canoness whipped her head around "And?" the canoness urged. The guardsman stepped forward and pulled from his pocket a bracelet, which Junera had given Repice after she had completed her training and became a full fledged battle sister. "I found this," the guardsman said "I hoped to go looking for her, so I might return it to her," Though the guardsman stepped out of line by keeping the bracelet, Junera could tell his intentions had been good in doing so. There was no doubt about it now, Respice had gone M.I.A. Junera knew it was possible she escaped, but if that were the case she would have headed back to camp or a guardsman outpost and called for aid. More likely...she was taken.

Junera quickly wiped a tear from her eye as the thought of what she must be going through wounded her very soul. She turned to head back to the Rhino. "Miss," the guardsman called out. The canoness turned, irritated that he spoke out of turn. The guardsman's officer attempted to hush him, but he would have his say. "She saved my life she did, I'd be lying there in pieces if it weren't for her. Before we charged, she gave me courage when I felt the most alone. She was...kind." The canoness contained a nostalgic smile as it warmed her heart, if ever so little, to know that another had seen the same kindred spirit in Respice as she had. "If you find her, I would like to thank her," "That's enough out of you!" His superior officer hissed "My apologies canoness he's..." "No its quite alright," Janera assured him. "You have my thanks guardsman. And WHEN I find her, I will tell her you said thank you," The guardsman saluted once again "Thank you M'lady," the canoness turned again and strutted towards her rhino, hopefully the vox crews had a lock on Respice's location. Perhaps she was safe, the chance was small. But still, Janera held out hope.


	4. Catching a shadow

Chapter 4: Catching a shadow

A flash and then daylight, Solusia had escaped. She knew not the world on which she had appeared, but clearly it was far from peaceful. As soon as she appeared she could hear the distant sounds of battle. She needed to find food and supplies as in her haste she only managed to bring her knife. "I suppose I should be grateful that this gate happen to lead to a still habitable planet," she thought to herself "Even if it is inhabited by humans," she muttered in disgust.

Solusia wandered through the wilderness with stealth and grace. She moved towards the sound of battle, for where there is battle, there are supplies to be scavenged. Eventually she came across the battle; it was a fortress, residing on the edge of a cliff no doubt under siege, the suns of this world were beginning to set. Judging by their movement in relativity to the time she started searching, it would be dark soon, and she would have the perfect opportunity to take what she needed from the humans. Not far from her she heard a small party moving through the forest, no doubt they thought they were moving quietly but to Solusia they might as well have been bounding through the woods.

Solusia headed towards the sound of the stumbling humans with effortless grace. She came across the pack, they seemed completely unaware of her presence. She followed them staying approximately 5 meters away. She observed them, they appeared to also be scavengers given there ragtag appearance. She figured following them would be ideal, as they clearly had been here for longer than she had and no doubt: were familiar with the area, and knew some good methods and possibly places to find good loot. She started to stalk them, they made no action to notice her presence, until, their leader looked down at a device he was carrying. "On 8!" he shouted. The entire group turned 120 degrees to their left, directly facing Solusia. She realised her position had been compromised and leapt backwards to escape the humans. They fired a barrage of lasgun fire, most of which she was able to avoid. However, she was hit twice in the leg and once in the stomach. She lay completely still, desperately hoping to hide from her pursuers.

"Hold!" their leader shouted. Solusia knew any movement would just give away her position, her only hope was to wait, and if discovered, attempt to deafen her assailants with a psychic shriek. She heard their footsteps approach, much more cautiously and controlled than before, almost as if they had been acting clumsy. There was a pause, silence. Then Solusia felt a hand grab her by the hair, she turned and shrieked with all her might. The humans were affected by the ear piercing cry but not as intended. Instead of the slumped over agonizing heap of men that usually fall before such a scream, Solusia only witnessed the humans become mildly irritated by her howl. One of the guardsmen jabbed the butt of his rifle into her jaw. Shooting pain made it nearly impossible to produce any substantial sound, of course she saw no further point in trying, as it clearly had little to no effect.

The leader of the group knelt down infront of her "You eldar think you're so bloody clever don't you? Well you arent the first pointy we've come across." He gestured to his helmet "Equipped with frequency specific noise reducing ear pieces. Made these out of the ears of chaos noize marines. This..." he held up the device he looked at earlier "Is a psychic tracking device. Shows the direction, distance and power of all psychic energies within 2 kilometers. Pulled a couple of these beauties off of some imperial psychic hunters who came to the wrong moon. You thought you were tracking us but really you were walking right into an ambush,"

Solusia was enraged, partially because she was wounded and captured, more so because she was being talked down to by a human but mostly because she was outsmarted by a group of humans on some back world rock, who were equipped with gear made from the corpses of chaos worshippers. "Put her in chains, we'll bring her back with the rest of the loot once were done here," His subordinates complied and bound Solusia with rope and chain. One of the larger ones carried her over his shoulder until they reached the battlefield. "Looks like the Imperials one this one," some of the other soldiers exchanged currency at this news. Why, was a mystery to Solusia; human customs were strange and illogical. Suddenly there was a flash a few meters back in the forest, made more apparent by the darkening sky. A large human warrior wielding a glaive stepped forward from the forest brush. "Nice of you to join us," The leader of the rebels commented upon the arrival of the human. "What are we looking at here?" "Decisive imperial victory," the first human said to the larger human while handing over currency to him. "Thank you," the larger human said, storing the currency in a pouch. "If the sororitas didn't make an appearance, you can bet your arse you'd be forking over 50," the smaller human informed the larger one. "Indeed, but the lord of change has seen fit to bless me twice today," the larger one chuckled "Bugger you and your lord of change...sir" the smaller one responded as likely some form of insult towards the larger one, without any apparent fear of repercussion.

Solusia was unwillingly fascinated by these humans customs. So fascinated in fact that she was too distracted observing the humans bizarre behavior than to maintain her prior anger at her capture. "So what do you think another hour and we move?" the little one asked "Better make it two, the sororitas may be sticking around for a bit," the big one replied. He turned and looked at Solusia. "What do we have here?" He asked examining Solusia. Her anger returned. "Some eldar thought she could get the jump on us. At least I think it's a she," The big one turned her head to the side. Solusia groaned in pain.

The big one gestured at her broken jaw "What happened here?" he asked "Bit of a screamer this one," the human carrying her remarked "Ah I see," Said the big one. After two hours of waiting, the big one gave the go ahead. As his subordinates set forth into the battlefield to scavenge for supplies, the big one sat in a meditative pose. He was concentrating on casting, what Solusia recognized, as a visual obstruction spell. It appeared as though he was casting it across the majority of the battle field. Not an easily achieved feat. One that, Solusia knew, would require a lot of concentration. This was her chance to escape. Slowly and carefully she attempted to shift herself to a jagged rock that jutted out behind her. "Don't," The Human spoke "This spell takes a lot of focus, I'd rather not break my concentration and your legs in one motion. But believe me I will," Solusia stopped scooting. "Thank you," the human commended.

The other humans were back within the hour, an hour which Solusia spent metaphorically, and somewhat physically, kicking herself for being so careless as to be caught be idiotic, clumsy, pigheaded humans. This self frustration continued as they marched their way back to camp, as opposed to teleporting because the big one was suffering from psychic fatigue, she presumed. They strolled through the foliage without any real caution at all. Which was surprising to Solusia because she knew they could be graceful, for humans. Yet they didn't seem at all concerned with running into an ambush, or concealing themselves at all. At one point they began singing. Solusia was once again fascinated by the seemingly illogical behavior of humans, while simultaneously feeling terrified that, at any moment, they would all be killed. But they weren't.

They marched on for the better part of an hour(or so) until they reached their destination. Their destination, was a fortress buried deep in the woods, mostly underground, heavily camouflaged and warded with warp and divine symbols alike, many of which Solusia had never even seen before. After gaining entry through the heavily guarded, reinforced entrance, she saw an entire city filled with war painted and armed citizens. Every adult it appeared had a lasgun strapped on their back, regardless of the activity they were presently engaged in. There were inner defences being manned by 3 man teams, heavy bolter turrets and auto cannons. They took Solusia through the streets where children pointed at her in curiosity.

The humans "escorting" her were welcomed and revered by those they passed on the street. To avoid the throngs of people, the large one splintered off from the group to head in the direction of a dirty, off-white building. But not before first taking some of the supplies that his subordinates had acquired from the field. The human scavenging party took Solusia to a sturdy looking gray building. Inside they took her to a cell with absurdly thick walls and threw her in. "Welcome to your new home pointy," one of the humans grinned before slamming the cell door shut. Solusia waited for a moment, then began to free herself from her bonds. First her arms, then her legs, then her mouth gag. Her jaw was still in a lot of pain, she assumed it was broken. She looked out her cell window and began to plan her escape.


	5. Gospel of a Renegade

Chapter 5: Gospel of a renegade

Emptiness, then light. Respice was experiencing the same dream as before. The bride, the emperor and the groom. This time however, the grooms face was cast in shadow. As the bride stepped to the altar and the groom took her in hand, the groom's shadow began to envelope her radiance. Respice awoke in a panic. She had no idea; where she was, what happened, how she got wherever she was and why her arm and stomach hurt so much. She attempted to sit up but sharp shooting pain racked her torso. She let out a painful cry and immediately lay back down. A woman rushed through the door to Respice's aid. "Easy, easy. Don't get all brave on me lass. Those stitches need time to set," Respice nodded in agreement. "Where am I?" she panted "This? It's our own little slice of freedom, welcome to the node," "The what?" "The node, our city, in which you are currently residing," Respice nodded in recognition.

Then her memory started to come back to her. The last thing she remembered was a large blue blur. Her memory became a bit clearer and she was able to distinguish the blur was a man, an astartes, in power armor. Blue power armor? what astartes had blue power armor. The first one that came to mind were the ultramarines. Yes that had to be it, an ultramarine must have brought her here. "Where is he?" Respice asked "Where is who?" the woman responded. "The mutant who brought me here..." the woman seemed like she understood exactly who she meant. "...the ultramarine," The woman's look turned from understanding to the opposite. "Ultra marine?" she huffed. "You just get some rest now." she told her "Thank you miss," Respice smiled. "You're welcome sweet heart," she turned and walked out the door "Ultramarine?" she said to herself, as if trying to make sense of the word. Respice's memory continued to return to her. eventually she remembered the cultists and what they planned to do to her. Had they succeeded? She didnt know. She felt weak. How could that have happened to her? Respice pulled the gray sheet over her and curled up as much as her body would allow. She missed her sisters, most of all she missed her big sister Junera. She shed a tear that glistened in the unnatural light of the lamp over head. "Emperor, give me strength," she whispered to herself. She lay this way for a while. Praying that she would see Her family again.

Doolah strolled into the armory, where two of the armorers helped him to remove his armor and place it among his various armaments. He then drew his robe, tying the arms around his waist as he wished to allow his body to breath after a long day in power armor. After clothing himself, he headed towards the medical facility to check up on his lord's little anomaly. As he approached the building he greeted passers by. Once he reached the facility he greeted the head physician "Hello Gwyn, how are you this fine evening?" "Not busy, thank you by the way for bringing them home safely," "Think nothing of it," "What's this I hear about an eldar banshee?" "Well we still aren't sure yet if she is a banshe, but we have our suspicions. How's our guest?"

"Oh," Gwyn said sympathetically placing her hand over her heart. "The poor thing was exhausted and in so much pain," "Was?" Doolah asked, very alert on the subject. "No, no she's alive, and I think she is doing well. You know she is quite beautiful..." Gwyn commented. There was a pause "And?" Doolah asked naively. "Well you saved her from those horrible cultists. I'm sure she's grateful," "Excellent, maybe she'll answers my questions then. Imperials can be quite stubborn," Gwyn looked at him with disappointment. "That's it?" She questioned. "What's it?" Doolah responded. There was another pause. "Nothing. I think she is strong enough to talk," Doolah placed his hand on the door. "Dool?" Gwyn spoke "Hm?" he acknowledged "If she hadn't had that power armor...would you have let them... rape her?" Gwyn asked tentatively. Doolah thought it over briefly and then responded with a simple "Yes," He opened the door and entered.

Respice heard the door open and turned around quickly. She saw an 8 foot tall hulk of a man which she could only presume was an astartes, he was covered in strange silver tattoos, the likes of which she had never seen before. She found it odd however that he was not wearing his armor. She pulled up the gray sheet over her breasts as she just remembered that they were exposed. "Who are you?" Respice asked. The man walked over to retrieve a chair from the corner of the room. He placed it on the floor next to Respice's bed "I'm the one who brought you here" he stated sitting down. "You have my gratitude astartes," She thanked half heartedly. "Mhm, what do they call you?" The man asked plainly. "I am Sororitas Respice Prodomi of the sisters of the argent shroud. Whom might you be?" "I am Dubhshláine, conscript of the thousand sons chaos legion,"

Respice's heart sank in her chest. A chaos space marine! Respice lunged for one of the surgical tools in a tray beside her and flung it at the heretic. It into his arm but being that the blade of the tool was only about an inch in length he was not phased. "But those familiar with me know me as Doolah." he continued, pulling the blade out of his arm. "Do you always impale the people who bring you to sanctuary?" he questioned rhetorically. Respice went for another blade, but her stomach throbbed in pain so her effort ended in futility. She let out a cry of pain and then slumped back down onto her mattress. "Im going to venture a guess and say that you are not overly fond of my..." "Shut your heathen mouth heretic!" Respice shouted as loud as her stitches would permit. "...kind," Doolah finished "Listen Res..." "My name is Respice you filth!" "I realize that, and yet I care not. Res I dont like you either...at all. In fact I would have let those slaanesh cultists do as they pleased with you. One of the reasons I didn't was because they wouldn't allow me your power armor. But that is to be expected, they do worship a god of Excess, not a god of negotiation after all." Doolah conceded.

"If you think the fact that you kidnapped me from other heretics means that I will cooperate with you. Then you are sorely mistaken," Respice spat. "I don't think that actually. What I think is that I am a chaotic sorcerer with no moral compass, the raw psychic potential of a beta level imperial grey knight; a group of warriors so dangerous that you aren't even allowed to know they exist by your imperium, and I have been trained by one of the greatest Chaos sorcerers in the galaxy; Ahriman the Black. So I could destroy you with a thought if I wanted to," This was a slight exaggeration on Doolah's part, but only slight. "If you want to speak with regards to physicality; I am a genetically enhanced, 8 foot 6, 750 lbs male warrior, with again; no moral compass. You on the other hand are 5 foot 10, most likely 160 lbs female with a freshly broken arm and recently sealed abdominal wounds who happens to be in my base of operations. So no I don't think you owe me anything. What I do think is that I want you to answer some questions, and I can do anything to or with your body and mind for as long as I desire. So no matter how or what you scream, no one within 50 cliques of here will have the desire, let alone the capacity, to stop me, thus allowing me to act freely and without repercussion until you tell me what I want or I reduce you to a quivering shell of a person, whose mind has been completely broken in order to make sense of the horrors that befell her. That's what I think."

Respice was afraid. Looking at him, even if he had lied about his psychic abilities, which she had the feeling he did not, with no weapons, a broken arm and injured "emperor knew what else", she would be completely at his mercy. "So first question...Res...what do you think the lord of change would be interested in about you?" Respice said nothing. She was holding herself steady as she could not allow him to know she was afraid. "Let's start with something easier, have you ever questioned the validity of your corpse god?" Respice stared right into Doolahs eyes "You and your god can go and burn in the fires of eternal damnation in the warp. The day I betray my father or sisters is the day I die and my corpse is mutilated by warp demons," She said defiantly. Doolah was impressed by the conviction with which she said this. It was clear to Him that it would be far more effective to manipulate her rather than to intimidate or torture her.

"I think you're lying to me," Doolah responded "You would be very familiar with deception wouldn't you," "Oh would I be? Dont pretend to know anything about the ruinous powers. You mindless drone." "I know enough about your heresy to know you worship the demon of deceit," "Yes and I'm very impressed by that one fact you know and the fact that you don't know his name," "You're false god, Tzeentch" she emphasised "Is the god of lies, schemes and sorcery. Your worship of it was made evident by your involvement in the traitor legion of the thousand sons." Doolah was impressed by her knowledge of Tzeentch. She was fairly well learned, and perceptive...for an imperial. "He is also the god of knowledge, which you seem rather fond of. Perhaps that's why you've taken an interest in him," Doolah lead.

Respice spat on the ground at Doolah's feet. "I'd sooner pledge allegiance to an ork,". It was clear to Doolah that she had no present interest in Tzeentch, or likely any chaos entity. This was not surprising as the sororitas are known for being particularly spiteful of the ruinous powers. "You seem to know quite a bit about us, for a sororitas. What else are you hiding from your ecclesiarchy, Hm? Perhaps some psychic gifts you'd rather they not know of?" She scowled at Doolah. In a way that lead him to believe she was growing tired of his presence rather than actually hiding anything. Doolah had everything he needed from her. "Thank you for cooperation," he stood up and walked out the door. Respice did not know what he had meant by cooperation until her review of what she had told him. She felt foolish for divulging so much information to him. It didn't matter; he still didn't know anything dangerous so as far as she was concerned, her sisters were still safe. Respice needed to get out of here, but in her condition she knew she wouldn't get far. For now she lay in bed and prayed for deliverance.


	6. Loyalty and Duty

Chapter 6: Loyalty and Duty

Junera sat in her quarters, looking at the last known coordinates transmitted by Respice's tracking beacon, facing an exceptionally difficult decision. Whether to go look for her or not. On the one hand, she would be faced with insubordination if she diverted troops on such short notice for such insubstantial evidence to save one sister's life. Not to mention, most of her troops were deployed across battle zones or posted defending strong points. To divert them would not only insight the wrath of the ecclesiarchy, but could potentially cause the deaths of dozens if not hundreds of imperial soldiers, should the duties of the sororitas lack the proper numbers to be completed. Not to mention even if, by some miracle, no ill befalls the remaining troops during this rescue mission, it could very well turn into an ambush for the troops being deployed AND there is no evidence to say that respice is even still alive. Now Junera knew she could divert troops over time as the chaos insurrection was culled but that would take far too long because if Respice was not dead by now, she surely would be by the time that Junera could muster any kind of troops towards her rescue.

To make matters worse, even if they found Respice, and she was by some blessing of the emperor ok and by some miracle, no ill effects came of this shifting of forces and somehow the ecclesiarchy oversighted this unsanctioned expenditure of resources and manpower to find Respice; she had still been reported and confirmed M.I.A at the hands of chaos. If she came back, she could very well be forced into questioning by the inquisition. It might not even stop there, the whole mission could be put in the inquisitions sights. Junera knew that she could not go after Respice, there was no way. Junera began remembering Respice's days as a Cadet, in her early days she was ridiculed for her green eyes and red hair. Such traits were quite uncommon in the imperium, particularly in tandem with one another. Despite the fact that the adeptus sororitas refer to themselves as "Sisters" their can often times be harsh and even dangerous hostilities between them, certainly not befitting of women who are said to share blood with one another. One day, when Respice was little more than 11 standard years old, she caught Respice in her room crying profusely.

She stepped into the room to find out what was going on. "Sister, what is wrong?" Junera asked taking a seat next to her. Respice stifled her sobs. She spoke heavily suppressing her sadness "Inutila is telling some of the other girls that I am a daughter of a demon, that my eyes and hair prove that I am from the warp," Being that there were no other redhaired or greeneyed sisters in that particular academy, it added to the potential truth of the rumor in the eyes of the impressionable girls. "It isn't true is it?" Respice asked, her emotions getting the better of her. "Of course not, Inutila is a foolish little girl," Junera assured placed her hand on Respice's back to try and comfort her. "Can you make her stop?" Respice asked. Junera desperately wanted to protect her, but she knew that would not be best. "No child I cannot,".

Junera had decided. She alone would look for Respice. She would leave her second in command in charge, the campaign was going well at any rate, her absence would not be missed, despite the blatant disregard for the law of the ecclisiarchy this action would display, she felt it necessary none the less. No other sisters would be put at risk and Respice turned out, emperor forbid, to be dead, then no ill would come of it apart from reprimands from the ecclesiarchy. But in Junera's eyes, that was a small price to pay to bring her sister back safely. Junera knocked on the doors of her palatines quarters. She answered "Yes canoness?" "I must go, you are in charge until I return," Junera stated promptly. "Canoness!" Palatine Olvera responded "Where are you going? this is highly irregular behavior! You'll need a guard escort at the very least..." she continued "No sister," Junera ordered "Should my mission end poorly, I will not allow any other sisters to be harmed or brought under investigation because of my actions," "But canoness..." "I have made up my my Olvera," Junera stated with finality. "You are going to find Respice aren't you?" Olvera declared. Junera paused "I cannot leave a sororitas behind, but I will not unjustly risk the lives of others to save one. Such is my charge as canoness," she explained. Olvera sighed "If there is anything that I have learned about you over the years sister, it is that you will never go back once you have made up your mind," she extended her arm. Junera took it in hers and embraced Olvera. "May the emperor guide you sister," Olvera wished "And you my sister" Junera responded.

Junera turned and headed for the vehicle bay. Once she reached it, she procured a motorcycle and headed off towards the last known coordinates of her lost sister. She rode across stone and dirt under the dark night sky. It would not be several standard hours before daybreak, if Respice was alive and Junera could find her and bring her back before the sun rose, then emperor willing, things might turn out alright. But off in the distance, a set of beady black eyes spied her, and swift feet took to pursuit. Eventually Junera was unable to travel any farther through the forest as the road had disappeared and the forest became too dense for motorcycle. Junera dismounted, bolter in one hand and global positioning device in the other. She was closing in on the position last transmitted by Respice's armor. Meanwhile not far behind her, four cultists stalked her every step. "Looks like we have a sororitas, where do you suppose she's headed?" "Not sure, seems odd that we'd find one alone," "Could be a trap, trying to lure us out," "Why would they set a trap for us? If they know we're here, why wouldn't they just attack?" "I don't know, but we must be patient, after all the hasty hunter is a preyless one,". The four continued to follow Junera for the next kilometer. Here Junera stopped; these were the last coordinates of Respice's armor. Junera looked around for any indication of her presence; a foot print, an item left behind, anything. Then she switched on the thermal sight on her helmet.

About 30 yards from where she was standing, there was a slight heat signature. As she drew carefully closer, she switched to night vision and saw that it was a slot in a reinforced door with a man peeking through. The camouflage was so good in fact that had she not had her varied optics, she might have never seen it. Junera figured that that would be the most likely place that Respice would be, seeing as how it was almost directly next to the last known coordinates of Respice's armor. Junera was not yet sure about how to enter the facility without alerting guards. There was no telling what kind of fire power or or how many men they had in there, and though she wanted to save Respice, she was not about to charge head into an unknown foe. She waited and surveyed the area for other entrances or vulnerable points she could exploit. Meanwhile the cultists were making observations of their own. "She stopped, why did she stop?" "Maybe she found something," "Yes, I see it. Look theres a door," "Where?" "There!" "Ah, use the seismic scanner," after a few minutes. "Praise the dark prince! Look there," "Its the size of a city," "Plenty to pillage in there I bet, and if catch them off guard and take it over, we can establish a new base," "Contact the commander, he'll want to know about this,".

Junera searched for another entrance but it seems to be sealed up tighter than a drum. But then she noticed a thin fog rising from one of the trees. Upon closer inspection she found that it was not a tree but a vent disguised as one. This would be her way in. Junera climbed the tree being cautious to check for traps. Sure enough there were three tripwires rigged to grenades on the vent. This unnerved Junera as it was evident that these soldiers were quite clever, certainly more so than the slaanesh cultists that they were waging war against. Who were they? She wondered; another cult, or perhaps a civilian militia. Junera checked the chemical output of the vent, it was just a standard CO2 emission. She then gingerly lowered herself into the vent. Slowly but surely she scaled her way down the vent. The vent was so large that she could maneuver through Junera shifted into a side vent. She could hear the loud noises of production echoing through the vents. She used her knife to carve a small hole in the vent for her to peer out of. She was in the vent of a protein paste plant. She maneuvered through the vents until she came across a supply closet. She carved out the grate in the vent and dropped down as quietly as possible. She cracked open the door; all of the employees seemed hard at work. Junera decided the best way to go about finding Respice would be to grab a worker who may have seen her, so she waited. Soon enough a worker passed by the door, she opened it slightly to pique his curiosity.

When he went to inspect the door she grabbed him. She put him in a headlock with one hand over his mouth "Scream and I snap your neck," she whispered to him. "Now, was there an imperial soldier brought through here recently female redhair? And remember if you lie to me I will start snapping your fingers, understood?" The soldier attempted to nod. Junera removed her hand from his mouth. "There was an injured soldier brought to the city with that description," "Where is she now?" "The medical center; two blocks from here down the road to the left," the man answered without hesitation. "Please don't kill me I need to support my children," he begged. Junera considered killing him to ensure his silence but decided against it out of sympathy. Besides, fear can be a powerful asset. "Listen to me," Junera ordered "I am not going to kill you," She placed her hand over his mouth again. "But I am going to knock you unconscious, and when you wake up, you will not mention this to anyone. Then you can go home, see your children and everyone can be happy." she struck the back of his head with her hand. Not too hard though as power armor can do a lot of damage to an unprotected human skull. She proped him up to make him look as though he were sleeping on the job. That way if he was caught in the closet and did tell them what happened, they would just assume he was trying to get out of working. Junera peared out the closet door. Most of the workers were on the floor beneath her.

The ones that were on the same level as her were over viewing the production. There were females working in the factory so Junera removed her helmet, tied up her hair, drew her cloak and walked out towards the first room with a window she saw. Fortunately the upper levels were poorly lit and it was loud enough to mask the sound of her power armor. When she reached the room two down from the supply closet, she closed the door, looked out the window and leapt down. She dropped into an alleyway and made for the direction that the worker had set her on. She still remained cautious, sticking to the shadows unless he lied and was directing her to a military barracks. When Junera had the building in sight she could see that it was clearly a medical facility by the writing on the front of it. It currently had several people moving in and out of it so she waited in the shadows for the opportune moment to move.

Doolah headed towards the citadel, he needed to report to the commander of the situation developing between the imperium and the cultists of Slaanesh. He walked through both stages of security and through the guarded doors to the council room. Only one man sat at the table. A massive man, bedecked in silver tattoos wearing grey robes. Doolah knelt before him. "Rise my son," the man commanded. doolah rose to his feet. "What news do you bring me?" "The adepta sororitas have..." "Yes I am aware of their presence. They seem to be pushing back the forces of slaanesh, as I expected. I hear you have captured one," "Correct sir," "What have you learned from her?" "Not much, she appears to be a standard sororitas, however I have reason to believe she may be favored by the lord of change…." "And what do you base this upon?" "She survived ordeals that should have killed her twice over, and she possesses knowledge of chaos far greater than that of the normal sororitas" "Your reasoning lacks sustenance. All the same she may prove useful. What about this Eldar?" "We know very little about her," "Have you questioned her?" "Her ability to speak at present has been...hindered," "Hindered?" "The troops who seized her had to break her jaw to keep her from wailing," "Interrogate her as soon as she is able," "Yes sir. Is there any news from the others?" "No, your siblings are scattered across the stars at present. You are dismissed," "yes sir," Doolah bowed and turned to leave when suddenly he heard an alarm.

 _One minute prior._

Junera saw her opportunity and leapt from the shadows. She dashed towards the entrance. She burst through the doors gun in hand. The Gwyn, who was at the front desk, raised her hands, but not before hitting the panic button under her desk. "Its an alarm from Gwyn at the medical center. Take an escort and deal with the situation," "Understood," Doolah nodded. He paced through the door. "You four on me," he gestured to four of the guards who jogged up to him and followed him.

"Where is she?" Junera demanded "Who?" Gwyn asked in a panic "You know who I mean, take me to her!" Junera grabbed Gwyn from behind the desk. "Ok, ok she's this way," Gwyn said beginning to hyperventilate. She walked towards the room where Respice was resting. She opened the door and there was Respice fast asleep. Junera pushed her forward "What is wrong with her?" Junera questioned forcefully. "She-she's got a broken arm and some internal ruptures, we stitched them up but she can't move yet..." Respice woke up. "Wha...Wha's going on?" her eyes focused. "Respice!" Junera exclaimed removing her helmet. "Maria?" Respice asked in disbelief. Junera knelt down at her bedside and embraced her. "You came for me?" Respice asked beginning to tear up. "I would never leave you behind," Junera assured her. "You," Junera addressed Gwyn "Give her a Painkiller," she ordered "But..." Gwyn tried to protest "Now," Junera commanded, pointing her bolter at Gwyn.

Gwyn rushed to the medicine cabinet and prepared a needle with a painkiller. "How did you find me?" "I'll explain later but right now we need to move," Junera told her. Gwyn moved over to give Respice the dose. "Hold on a minute Gwyn," A voice came from behind her. Junera instinctively grabbed Gwyn as a shield and pointed her bolter at the five men facing her. There were four soldiers armed with lasguns taking cover behind various tables and objects in the room and a fifth man, the size of an astartes; seemingly unarmed. "I'm going to have to request that you unhand my doctor," Doolah mused "And I am going to have to decline sir," Junera countered sarcastically. "Who are you?" She asked. "I'm the man who saved your daughter's life..." Doolah said, knowing full well that Sororitas did not have children, "She's not my daughter," Junera snapped.

"All the same, you cannot leave here. I have nothing against you personally..." "The feeling is not mutual heretic," Junera hissed "What makes you say that?" Doolah asked "Anyone holding sisters of battle against their will is a heretic," Junera specified "I suppose that's one way to look at it..." Doolah conceded "It's the only way to look at it," Junera corrected. Doolah sighed "You Imperials are exhausting," "You heathens are no treat either," "You know our fortress and if I let you go then you will come back with scores of your troops and attempt to obliterate us," "That's the plan," "Not my plan,". There was a pause of tension everyone's fingers tightened on their triggers when all of a sudden there was an explosion. A voice came over the speakers placed throughout the city, "All forces to the front gate, we have a breach," Doolah groaned. "Hold her here until I get back," "Yes sir!" the four men called out in unison. Doolah stepped out and headed towards the armory to dawn his armor. As he made his way down he stopped a group of three soldiers and ordered them to reinforce troops at the hospital containing a threat. He continued to the armory, armed himself and marched off to do battle.


	7. The Enemy of my Enemy

Chapter 7: The enemy of my enemy

Solusia looked out her cell window to see what the commotion was. She heard men running through the jail towards the entrance of the city. She looked through the bars of her cell door. The guard was gone. Now was her chance. Solusia used one of her hand bindings to pick the clunky human lock. The cell door swung open. She chuckled to herself. In the storage section of the jail she found her singing dagger. As Solusia began to leave the jail she heard the stomping of footsteps from the outside moving towards the jail. She hid in her cell, the door open. She heard the footsteps enter inside the jail. She clutched her knife to her chest. The footsteps came closer and closer. The barrel of a lasgun peered around the corner aimed towards her head.

She grabbed the barrel of the lasgun, pushed it away and stabbed the torso of the one wielding it. He shrieked in aroused pain. She pushed him back, absorbing all the resulting las fire from his companions with his body. She leapt to the left and then forward off the wall ending up behind the remaining three enemies. She stabbed the one closest to her in the back, took his gun from him and shot the other two before they could even turn for an accurate shot at her.

She paused to appreciate her work and then set off taking an additional lasgun and strapping it to her back. Solusia began to think about where she planned to go. This presented a dilemma as she had nowhere TO go, nor anyway to get there as traveling through the webway gates would present far too much of a risk and she had no knowledge of how to operate imperial vessels. In short; she was stuck here. Then she thought about her options for being trapped on this planet for however long. She had two options really; she could run into the wilderness and attempt to lead a life of solitude which would be a day to day life of looking over her shoulder in the hopes that she would not be discovered, or she could become accepted by one of the already established groups on this planet. The cultists of slaanesh she had heard people referring to were obviously out of the question, the imperium was too as they despised xenos, even xenos directly descended from their own genos. That left this place, run by the men who captured her. They weren't too fond of her...but they didn't seem to openly loathe her. After all she was still alive and in one piece. Their aggression towards her seemed to be more cautionary then spiteful, despite their insistence upon calling her pointy, and this evident assault on their home could be the opportunity to gain their trust that she needed.

It seemed she had no choice but to attempt to aid them in the defence of their city. She moved towards the direction she recalled coming from when they first brought her into the city. She got into occasional bouts with slaanesh soldiers on her way there but she was able to catch most of them off guard. As she approached the front she saw a large group of cultists moving towards a grey medical building, she decided to pursue and, hopefully, ambush them.

There was now a stalemate between Junera and the now 7 guards pointing lasguns at her. The tension was broken by a scream from inside the hospital of a women "Their here!" the woman screamed as shouts and battle cries rang out from the halls behind them. The guards looked at each other. "Sod it!" one of them yelled turning down the hall to combat the invaders. The others turned to join him. Junera attempted to seize the opportunity, she aimed her bolter at the guards with their backs turned. "NO MARIA!" Respice yelled. "What?" Junera asked not understanding Respice's exclamation. "They are just defending their people, if anything we should be helping them," Respice pleaded "Defending these people is not our responsibility!" Junera roared. "Isn't it?" Respice asked. Junera realized what she was saying. "Because I remember you telling me long ago that protecting people was a sororitas' responsibility," Respice recalled "Yes but..." Junera attempted to counter, but Respice just shook her head. She stood up and stumbled towards the hall. "What are you doing!" Junera cried "I'm going to help these people, like you taught me," "Wait!" Junera ordered. "You can barely stand..I'll help them," she begrudgingly said while moving towards the intruders. "You two stay here," she ordered, handing Respice her flamer.

She moved down the hallway, the shouts of the guards becoming more and more clear as she did. She rounded the corner to see four of the guards pinned down in doorways, two wounded and one dead. She immediately lit up the over zealous cultists who had taken the majority of the hallway. She rained lead upon them without discretion, peppering the whole hallway with explosive tipped retribution. She inflicted heavy casualties upon her enemies. The guards looked up to her in awe and relief that they did not have to fight her. The cultists began to dig in, taking cover in the doorways down the hall and laying down heavy suppressive fire. Junera ducked into a doorway with another guardsman who was attempting to keep his comrade alive. Junera kept the cultists at bay but they were clearly preparing to charge and over run her position. The guardsman next to her handed her a grenade "Here!" he shouted to her. She took the grenade "Much obliged," Junera thanked, forgetting that she had been two seconds away from being in a firefight against him not a minute earlier. "Cover your ears!" Junera shouted, pulling the pin and throwing the frag down the hall, there was an ear shattering BOOM, and parts of slaanesh worshippers littered the hall. But they pressed on until there was another explosion down the hall.

Junera peered around her cover to see the remaining cultist annihilated by a flurry of las gun fire and blade slashes. When the dust settled, an eldar emerged. "Identify yourself!" Junera shouted. The eldar raised her arms, gun in hand to show she had no interest in fighting Junera. "What's an eldar doing down here?" Junera asked. "We took her prisoner earlier today, why she stuck around to help us rather than high tailing it out of here I don't know." The eldar placed her gun down and stepped slowly towards Junera. Junera kept her bolter aimed at the eldar but allowed her to approach, when she got closer Junera asked her what her name was. "Solusia" She answered. Gwyn came around the corner supporting Respice. "Emperor protect!" she exclaimed, rushing to the side of one of the wounded soldiers. "Are we on the same side now?" one of the guards asked. Junera looked at Respice, "For now," she responded. The guards breathed a sigh of relief. "And what about you?" Junera asked Solusia "Will you stand with us?" Solusia nodded, "No tricks?" Junera questioned. Solusia shook her head. Junera picked up her lasgun and handed it to her. "Then stand by me sister, for today, any woman who fights by my side shall be my sister," Solusia found the humans quickened faith in her odd. But in the face of a common enemy, even the oldest foes may be united.

Solusia and Junera stepped out of the hospital, leaving the others to remain in case of another assault. They made their way towards the front. When they arrived they saw their collective capture Doolah weaving doom bolts and lightning from the palm of his hand as his subordinates fired volley after volley into the cultist lines. Solusia and Junera stepped up and joined the firing line. Doolah saw the two join them and with silent acknowledgment continued to bombard the central flashpoint. After an annihilation of over two thirds of the enemy's troops they fell back into full retreat. Junera turned to Doolah "We we'll be taking our leave now," she stated. "Just because you killed a few sado-masochists, dont think that I see you as trustworthy. I still have no guarantee that you won't send imperials to wipe us out," "You're damn right you don't..." suddenly the sound of heavy armored footsteps echoed through the streets. Everyone looked down the street and saw a man in gray terminator armor, bedecked in imperial prayers and seals. As he approached, all of the troops knelt, even Doolah. He stepped in front of Junera. He towered over her. "What is your name, sororitas?" the man asked in a booming voice, "Junera Maria of the sisters of the argent shroud," "Come with me Junera, Bring your sister and the eldar. We have much to discuss."


	8. Soldiers of Misfortune

Deep in asteroid fields of the segmentum pacificus, an imperial sword class frigate drifts through the emptiness after a successful raid against a rogue chaos vessel, bestowing upon them great treasures and armaments. At the helm, four servitors and a renegade tech priest steer the vessel through the asteroid field. Behind them, a man in power armor sits in his captain's chair, admiring a black slab of stone that had been recovered from their raid upon a chaos vessel.

"Over five hundred chaos space marines and countless other forces died at the hands of the necrons to recover you," He said in a voice with the texture of gravel. "I can't wait to see what the cults pay for you. Fritz!" He addressed.

"Yes sir," the tech priest turned to address the captain. "What's our status?" He asked "Our fuel is running low, we will need to stop and refuel," he groaned in his robotic droll "Make for nova terra," "Aye sir," the tech priests altered course and made for nova terra. The captain stood up, looked out the bridge window and marveled at the galaxy which lay before him.

Solusia, Respice, Junera and doolah all sat around the council table in the citadel before the terminator armored man. "Sororitas Junera," He spoke.

Junera begrudgingly granted him her attention. "Your mission has been called onto Forvos to deal with a cultist infestation is that correct?"

"I do not speak with traitors...or heretics," she hissed, shifting her focus to Doolah after having seen his armor decorated in chaos runes.

"I am no traitor sister Junera," The man spoke.

"How would you describe your abandoning the emperor?" she questioned with extreme prejudice.

He sighed, "Perhaps I should tell you the story of how I arrived on Forvos," he offered

"Perhaps it is irrelevant," Junera combated

"Sister," Respice pleaded "We should at least hear what he has to say,"

Junera looked at Respice in disbelief. "If I didn't know you better Respice, I might accuse you of heresy as well,"

"Forty years ago I belonged to an order known as the grey knights, we where the hammer of the inquisitions anti demonic orders militant. I was sent to this moon to quell a demonic infestation with two of my brothers," The man began "It seemed as though it would be a small matter, very small amounts of demonic activity were detected, but since this was at a time when a full scale chaos invasion was occurring, the imperium could not risk a single military asset. Particularly a fueling station so perfectly located to launch their counter assaults against the chaotic aggressors. After a few days it appeared as though we had obliterated the infestation. But we were ambushed by a bloodthirster and his horde of bloodletters. Though we fought valiantly I was felled in battle. My brothers thought me dead and I do not fault them for I nearly was. But then, by the emperors will, an angel of mercy came and offered me salvation..."

Doolah sat up as though becoming more eager to hear the story.

"Her name was Gilda, and she along had brought me back to her village and saved my life," Respice became interested, even excited, at this story.

"I was truly grateful to her. I desired to return to my order and would have, had it not been for the protocol of the grey knights: any who witness our deeds outside of the highest military ranks, administratum or astartes are to be terminated. If I had sent word that I was still alive, they would have sent a death squad to this village and executed every citizen. I love the emperor and my brothers to this day, and I shall love them till the day I die, but I would not see these people die for saving my life. So I allowed myself to remain dead in the eyes of the Imperium, and, since then, have taken part in putting down every insurgency, invasion or infestation that has befell this planet in solidarity to the Imperium I needed to turn my back on. So now you know how I came to be,"

Junera paused to absorb this information.

"Have you anything to say?" The man asked.

Junera looked at him "You disgust me," she sneered "Had I my armaments I would slay you where you stand," she turned and stormed out of the room.

The man nodded and six guards followed her. There was an awkward pause, then Respice spoke

"If you truly love the Imperium, then why is it you consort with chaos," she said staring at Doolah.

"I fought for the Emperor for many years..." the man began "...and in that time I always found that there was something we wouldn't do, a line we would not cross, fighting with one hand behind our backs as it were, and it frustrated me to no end. It is nearly impossible to destroy something you do not understand, so I took that step that the men of my order would never take," he gestured to doolah. "Doolah is my son,"

Respice was shocked. She didn't think astartes were capable of reproducing. "How?" she asked. "A few years after my rescue from the clutches of death, I extracted my gene-seed and implanted it in a human female, a feat which had cost many lives in order to secure a rogue apothicary with the knowledge to do so, subjects that could be used to grow the necessary organs to be implanted and the equipment to carry out such a process. Gilda was the healthiest and strongest female I could find, and only the strongest would be able to bear me a child. I asked if she would bear my child and she agreed though I don't think that this would have been the way she'd have chosen," he conceded. "So she was impregnated with my child, but it seemed that fate had other plans as the geneseed had multiplied within her. Instead of one child, which would have been trying enough as it was, she had been impregnated with four," Respice couldn't imagine the strain that must have put on her body. "She managed to birth the children, they were small and sickly. The strain proved too much for her, she died never knowing their names..." he stopped, correcting his attitude which had grown melancholy.

Respice noticed his eyes moistened at the mention of Gilda's death.

"And so Doolah and his three brothers were born, each one of them chose a different ruinous power to study in order to defeat the forces of chaos at large. For years they have operated in the shadow of the imperium and eye of terror with devastating results," he boasted. "We've quelled a few hundred chaos, ork and tyranid incursions before they could gain a galactic foothold. I believe the administratum would refer to that as 'the emperor's will'. At least they did when I was still a knight," Respice didn't have much of a response for this aside from "Silence heretic," which she already knew wasn't going to get her very far. Doolah looked at her with skepticism. "Tell me Res, how did you first meet Juny?" "Her name is Junera and mine is..." "Could kill you with a thought Res just answer the question," he interjected.

Respice remained silent. "I've had it with your zealous silence, if I have to rip open your mind to get answers I will," Doolah threatened Repice did not want him snooping around in her mind. She decided it wouldn't hurt just to tell him that much. "When I was a child, there was an ork infestation on Cadia. The sororitas were there," she paused "I stole protein nutrient packs from them to feed the other orphans. Junera caught me, but instead of hurting me, she took in the children. She gave us food and medical attention and then she asked me if I wanted to join the sisterhood,"

"Why did you want to join?" Doolah pressed

"Because she told me that I could have a family," Respice flashed a faint smile as she remembered back to how excited she was when Junera made the offer. "I had never had sisters before...or a father...or a mother," Both Doolah and his father caught onto the tone in Respice's voice when she uttered the word mother.

"You say you were an orphan, do you remember anything of your parents? Even slight memories?" Doolah asked further. Respice shook her head "No, the first memory I have was standing in the street, alone," "How old were you then?" "I dont know...about eight standard years,"

This intrigued Doolah. Respice began to well up at the memory of her past, but hid her sorrow expertly. Respice slowly walked out of the room, without waiting for permission. Doolah nodded towards her and a guard detail followed her.

"What is your fascination with this one?" The man asked.

"Eight years old is a bit late for a first memory..."

"Doolah," The man addressed. Doolah snapped back into the present

"Yes?"

"Why her? Why do you ask such irrelevant questions?"

"She has a part to play, I can feel it,"

"A part?"

"In the great plan. The lord of change has touched her, I am almost certain of it. If I could find out why then perhaps we could use her..."

"What exactly are you basing this upon?" the man asked.

Doolah paused "A feeling,"

"A feeling?" the man repeated.

"Its not doing us any harm,"

"It nearly did, her superior officer came to retrieve her and might have succeeded, compromising everything we have worked for,"

"If she proves to be a nuisance we can always kill her,"

"See to it; the moment she becomes more trouble than she is worth, erase her,"

"It'll be like she never existed. I promise,"

"Good," the man paused.

"You're dismissed," Doolah bowed and took his leave.

The man then turned to get up only to realise that Solusia was still in the room, absorbing the entire encounter. "My you eldar are a disturbing lot," he told her. Solusia smiled in response.

"The same goes for you; an ounce of trouble and I don't care how many days you have lived, we'll bury you in one. Understood? " Solusia nodded. "Good, get out," Solusia got up and left, taking one of the last guard details with her. The man returned to his quarters and continued to brood over what to make of these new developments.


End file.
